Konnichiwa! I have been eating a lot in rue Saint Anne and its surroundings lately. Lunches, dinners, but main lunches as my Japanese courses are not far away. In fact, the main reason why I started learning Japanese is the Japanese food and in the little Japan of Paris, you can find anything- teppanyaki, sukiyaki, tempura, sushi, yakitori, tonkatsu etc, etc.
Here is a small list of the places i would recommend so far.
11 bis rue Saint Anne, tel.: 01 42 96 27 60
“Yakiniku” in Japanese means “grilled meat” and I have been addicted to it. When you place a slice of entrecôte ( i found it the best piece of meat to be grilled as it is the fattiest) on your personal grill and when it starts to sizzle, all you need to do is dip it into the sweet Japanese sauce and eat it with white rice. (although you can also dip the meat into the sauce before placing it on the grill, even better) What perfection!
You can have shrimps and scallops too.
39 rue Saint Anne, tel.: 01 47 03 33 65 http://www.kunitoraya.com/
I don’t think that their telephone will be useful as I am not sure if they take reservations at all. This tiny place is always so crowded that during lunches people are queuing in the street. The speciality of Kunitoraya is udon noodles, perfect for the capricious Parisian weather. The shrimp tempura is so buttery, crispy and fresh that probably it is the best shrimp tempura I have ever had. Doesn’t accept credit cards.
14 rue Molière, tel. 01 42 96 08 38 http://www.takaraparis.com/
The oldest Japanese restaurant in Paris (and in Europe, according to their website). When you enter the place you feel like you travelled to Japan. Here you can have most of the Japanese specialities- sushi, tempura, udon, sukiyaki, shabu shabu… Excellent place and for lunch, and for dinner.
56 rue Saint Anne, tel. 01 42 96 67 76 http://isse-et-cie.fr/bizan/
I first found out about Bizan from Le Figaro, it is one of the favourites of starred chef Guy Martin. Since then, I’ve been twice at Bizan, once for lunch and once for dinner. Delicious salad of greens and avocado, pretty good fatty tuna sushi (one of the few places in Paris that has it). Like Takara, Bizan is more “high end” and more expensive than other restaurants in the area. The waiters in the evening are dressed in traditional Japanese kimonos.
The other places i tried which are not bad.
32 bis rue Saint Anne, tel.: 01 47 03 38 59
42 rue Saint Anne, tel. : 01 40 15 99 90
45 rue de Richelieu, tel.: 01 42 86 26 60
